Mars Close Approaches

Mars Close Approach to Earth:April 14, 2014

Simply go outside and look up, contact your local planetarium, or look for a star party near you.

Mars' brightness will match the star Sirius, which is the brightest of all the stars.

The planet will be in the constellation Virgo, 6 degrees north/north-east of the bright star Spica.

As a coincidence, on the same night that Mars is closest to Earth, you can see a total lunar eclipse. With Earth's shadow falling on the full Moon, it will have a reddish color.

Mars Close Approach

What is Mars Close Approach?

Close approach is when Mars and Earth come nearest to each other in their orbits around the sun. Close is a relative term. The minimum distance from the Earth to Mars is about 54.6 million kilometers. However, that doesn't happen very often.

If Earth and Mars had perfectly circular orbits, their minimum distance would always be the same. However, they have elliptical (egg-shaped) paths.

In addition, gravitational tugging by planets constantly changes the shape of their orbits a little bit. Giant Jupiter especially influences the orbit of Mars.

The orbits of Mars and Earth are also slightly tilted with respect to each other.

All of these factors mean that not all close encounters are equal. In 2003, Mars made its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years! It won't be that close again until the year 2287.

When Mars and Earth are close to each other, Mars appears very bright in our sky. It also makes it easier to see with telescopes or the naked eye. The Red Planet comes close enough for exceptional viewing only once or twice every 15 or 17 years.

Close Approach: Mars Hoax

However, don't be fooled by the Mars Hoax! Since 2003, this urban legend gets circulated through email and social media every time Mars makes a close approach.

The message is that Mars will look as big as the Moon in our night sky. If that were true, we'd be in big trouble given the gravitational pulls on Earth, Mars, and our Moon!

Since Mars and Earth are at their closest, it's generally the best time to go to Mars. Many Mars missions have taken advantage of the close distance to visit the red planet. That's why, depending on budgets, you'll often see that Mars missions launch about every two years: